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Monday, August 23, 2010

Zucchini-Almond Bread (gluten-free + dairy-free)

Well, it's August. Harvest time. I've been busy picking berries, peaches, and apples as of late. Jam-making is in full swing, our gardens are overflowing, and the energy of summer is winding down into Autumn. You can feel it in the air here.

So why not bake zucchini bread? Now that our kitchen isn't 100 degrees anymore, I feel I can bake again! This gluten-free zucchini bread recipe is easy to make, moist, and super flavorful. It does contain eggs. You'll also notice that I use something called 'coconut sugar' in this recipe. Coconut sugar is a low-glycemic granulated sweetener that can replace white sugar in any recipe. For more information on one of my favorite sweeteners please refer to my Coconut Sugar Apple Crisp post!

Gluten-Free Zucchini-Almond Bread

This moist and delicious bread is a great way to make use of the massive amounts of garden zucchini available at this time of year! Use the grating disc on your food processor to quickly grate the zucchini or offer the task to your child to be done with a hand grater. I use stone mini loaf pans which evenly distribute the heat and don't cause any sticking. They are available through Pampered Chef.

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour

1 cup almond meal (Bob's Red Mill almond meal/flour)

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted coconut oil or grapeseed oil

3/4 cup coconut sugar

2 large organic eggs

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup almond milk (or another unsweetened dairy or non-dairy milk)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil four mini-loaf pans.

In a large bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, and eggs. Add the zucchini and milk and stir together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together well using a whisk or wooden spoon until the batter thickens. Immediately fold in the chocolate chips if using.

Evenly distribute batter amongst the four loaf pans. Smooth the tops with your finger if desired (I always do this). Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove loaves from pans after about 5 to 10 minutes and place onto a wire rack to cool. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

About the Author

Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole foods diet. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram!

Dear Ali,Thank YOU so much for another zucchini bread recipe. I can't wait to try it out. I just have one (or two) questions. Do you squeeze out your zucchini? AND Do you think that my frozen shredded zucchini from my freezer will work okay? When it thaws out, it's pretty wet. Will this add too much moisture to the recipe?

YUMMM!! This looks great. I have always loved zucchini bread and am excited to try your gluten free recipe. Have you ever created a gluten free chocolate zucchini cake recipe? Thanks again - can't wait to make this one!

Sandy - I would try finely ground sunflower seeds ground in a food processor. The flavor may not be as soft but it would still be good! Let me know how it turns out. For those of you who can eat nuts, Hazelnut meal/flour would also work too. :)

Dot - Thanks! Enjoy! :)

Amy - Yes, my 5 year old thinks it is "the best bread ever" and wants me to make it all the time! Your recipe looks fabulous as well. :)

Karen - Yes, the world is always in need of more zucchini recipes, for sure! :)

Barbara - I don't squeeze out the shredded zucchini, however, I would definitely drain off the excess water from thawed, previously frozen zucchini. Enjoy! :)

Deb - Hmm, I guess a gluten-free zucchini chocolate cake is next in line, great idea, thanks!

Alisa - Hmm, I not read anything conflicting on sorghum flour so if you have a link to add or email me that would be great! I love baking with it as it is much lighter than rice flour and creates tender baked goods. :)

I made this last night as muffins instead of mini loaves, and had two for breakfast this morning. So good! Great flavor, light texture, but they've kept me satisfied all morning. I didn't have eggs so I ground up a few tablespoons of flaxseed and let it sit in a bit of water for a few minutes. That seems to do the trick. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!

This recipe looked so good when I read it on Saturday that I decided to make it on Sunday. Unfortunately it was a flop in my hands. I had some leftover applesauce that I wanted to use up so I used a little less than 1/4 cup of the applesauce (what was left) and 1/4 cup of coconut oil (I didn't have grapeseed oil). Since I didn't have coconut sugar, I used honey. And once I started the process, I didn't have enough sorghum flour, so I used up what I had and filled the rest with Quinoa flour. So basically, I mangled your poor recipe. Everything looked great when I checked on it in the oven, but it took a long time for the toothpick to come out clean. When I did take the bread out of the oven, it fell, so I knew immediately there was way too much liquid in it. I put the bread in to cook a bit longer and that didn't seem to help. Though delicious, it was very mushy on the inside. Not one to waste, I cut the bread into slices and toasted it some more in the oven, which helped a bit. They now look more like biscotti than bread.

I do plan on making this again but following your recipe to a T. The one thing I was wondering is, if I want to sub honey for the sugar, how much can I use?

Hi Ali, I made this last weekend and it was too moist. I wasn't sure if I should pack the zucchini. I think I may have had too much moisture from too much Zucchini. Any thoughts - I really want to try again to make this work - the taste was great, just wouldn't bake completely.thanks for any help,Deb

This bread turned out amazing. Moist and delicious. Will definitely keep this in my go-to recipes for school lunches, teas, luncheons, school parties etc. Hope you don't mind if I post it on my site www.SimpleNatualNutrition.com for my GF friends. I have your cookbook and use it all the time. Looking forward to the release of your new one! Keep up the amazing work that you do! Kristen

I'm pretty sure this is the best zucchini bread I've ever had in my life! I am making it for the third time in two weeks... I absolutely adore this recipe. Thank you so much, Ali! ... Also good as banana bread, of course.

LOVE this. Left out the xanthum gum and it still came out great. My kids loved it, I love it. Also I used regular mini-loaf pans vs ceramic and it came out great. Thanks for providing a great base for getting rid of LOTS of extra zucchini!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! My name is Alissa Segersten and I've had a love of healthy food and cooking since the age of 10. When I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2001, I diligently began writing down my recipes because so many people would ask for them! Some of these recipes appeared in my first book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. I now have 5 children and am passionate about educating them about our food system so they can make the most informed choices as they grow up and are exposed to a world of processed, chemical-laden foods. Join me in my mission of helping to support families with nourishing meals!